Walt Disney Company, Baby Einstein, "Baby Beethoven"

The extensive media coverage and ensuing controversy surrounding an announcement by the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC) on Friday, October 23, 2009, after they released a press statement, “CCFC Victory: Disney Offers Parents Refunds on Baby Einstein Videos”, took a turn on Sunday, October 25, 2009 when Susan McLain General Manager, The Baby Einstein Company, issued a response to CCFC’s claims.

Because of the immense popularity of the Baby Einstein videos with parents and caregivers, and in an effort to help sort through the pros and cons while making an informed choice as to whether or not this type of media is “right” for your child, the following research references (below) are provided.

Either way, the folks at Baby Einstein are offering exchanges for merchandise or full refunds for their products. Please link here for complete details on their offer.

To get some historical background on the issues of media and the effects on children, one might explore the following article: The Effects of Electronic Media on Children Ages Zero to Six A History of Research – Issue Brief, January 2005, which had been available in entirety on-line in pdf format until Sunday evening, October 25, and now (after unsuccessfully attempting to link to the original pdf article) and after an on-line search, one is directed to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation where the following statement is posted: “This issue brief explores the history of research about the effects of electronic media on children zero to six years old (including the funding sources), summarizes the findings of the seminal studies in this area, and notes gaps in the research base.”

“Recent studies indicate that even the youngest children in the United States are using a wide variety of screen media. Some children’s organizations have expressed concerns about the impact of media on young children; others have touted the educational benefits of certain media products. This issue brief provides a comprehensive overview of the major research that has been conducted over the decades on various aspects of young children’s media use, and also highlights the issues that have not been researched to date.”

“This is the thirteenth in a series of reports and fact sheets on topics related to children, media and health that pull together the most relevant research on such issues as TV violence, teens on-line, media ratings, and children and video games.”

(As of this publication time, the actual brief has not been available to download in pdf or html, perhaps it will be restored at a later time.)

To give further background, in May 2007, the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine published the following study, which created awareness, but also most of the controversy, Television and DVD Video Viewing in Children Younger Than 2 Years by Frederick J. Zimmerman, PhD; Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH; Andrew N. Meltzoff, PhD, which came to the following conclusion: “Parents should be urged to make educated choices about their children's media exposure. Parental hopes for the educational potential of television can be supported by encouraging those parents who are already allowing screen time to watch with their children.”  The abstract can be viewed here and the full brief here.

In October 2007, Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years, written by Frederick J. Zimmerman, PhD,Dimitri A.Christakis, MD, MPH, Andrew N.Meltzoff, PhD, and published in the Journal of Pediatrics, reached the following conclusions. “Further research is required to determine the reasons for an association between early viewing of baby DVDs/videos and poor language development.” The abstract can be viewed here.

In Psychology Press, January 2008, Infants' Attention and Responsiveness to Television Increases with Prior Exposure and Parental Interaction written by Rachel Barr, Elizabeth Zack, Amaya Garcia, and Paul Muentener, examined the following: “the relation between early television exposure and parental interaction style during infant-directed television programs on 2 outcomes: infant looking time and infant responsiveness. By quasi-experimental design half of the 12- to 18-month-old infants had prior exposure to the program content and the other half did not. Cluster analysis based on parental verbalizations." The study revealed the following: “3 types of parental co viewing style: high, medium, and low scaffold. Looking time was significantly higher for infants previously exposed to these videos than for those who were not. Infant looking time was also significantly higher, and infants responded more, when parents provided high levels of scaffolding in the form of questions and labels or descriptions. The results suggest that both prior exposure and parental style are associated with infant attention and responsiveness to television and have important implications for both parents and television producers,” which falls directly in-line with the advice of Karen Hill Scott who serves as media consultant in “Ask the Expert” for Baby Einstein.

On March 2, 2009, PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 3 published on-line, Parents of Preschoolers: Expert Media Recommendations and Ratings Knowledge, Media-Effects Beliefs, and Monitoring Practices by Jeanne B. Funk, Jason Brouwer, Kathleen Curtiss, and Evan McBroom, and offered this conclusion: “Parents should continue to be educated about the need for preschoolers to participate in activities that promote language development, socialization, imagination, and physical activity. Although professionals should work to improve the ratings, and ultimately to implement a universal ratings system for all screen media, parents need to be encouraged to improve their understanding of current recommendations for screen media exposure and television and video game ratings.” The abstract can be viewed here.

Also published on-line in PEDIATRICS, Vol. 123 No. 3, March 2009, pp. e370-e375, Television Viewing in Infancy and Child Cognition at 3 Years of Age in a US Cohort by Marie Evans Schmidt, PhD, Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, MPH, Emily Oken, MD, MPH and Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, which concluded the following:”Television viewing in infancy does not seem to be associated with language or visual motor skills at 3 years of age.” The article can be viewed here.

And finally, in July 2009, Frederick J Zimmerman, PhD, Jill Gilkerson, PhD, Jeffrey A. Richards, MA, Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, Dongxin Xu, PhD, Sharmistha Gray, PhD and Umit Yapanel, PhD in PEDIATRICS Vol. 124 No. 1, pp. 342-349 , provided this conclusion for their article, Teaching by Listening: The Importance of Adult-Child Conversations to Language Development, “television exposure is not independently associated with child language development when adult-child conversations are controlled. Adult-child conversations are robustly associated with healthy language development. Parents should be encouraged not merely to provide language input to their children through reading or storytelling, but also to engage their children in two-sided conversations”.

Bottom line, you are always the final and best judge in determining whether any media, or the type, is appropriate for your child, and whether or not exposure to such media is beneficial or harmful.

If you feel your child benefits from watching these programs, the experts all agree that parental interaction while viewing is recommended.

Please feel free to contribute and share your thoughts and first-hand knowledge concerning these products. Have you utilized any of the videos; in what manner, and how has your child faired from usage?